Playtime.

As of today, I am officially a guest on all our programs. Well, as of just after the opening ceremony we just held, all kitted out in national uniform. (I made one out of paper that approximated what I would wear if I had a proper one. Finn and Swede explained their uniforms to me; I think I'll get a proper one when I get home.) I will still help a bit around dinner and breakfast, but I get to slip out of uniform and participate in instead of lead the programs. Our summer staff will be training all week. All I have to do is let them know if they miss something. Today's just a barbecue and orienteering, but we'll be doing high ropes, rock climbing, mountain hikes on Tschenten and Silleren, a trip to Interlaken and its Schokoladeri, spelunking, rafting, and another trip to Thun and its Schloss Oberhofen (Castle).

The summer crew is a fun bunch. They're a crew of eight, from all over the UK; Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto, Canada; and one from New Jersey. We also finally got our chef, of whom Dutch said "I just picked up a copy of you!" when she returned from fetching her at the bus stop. The chef actually spells her name one letter different than I do and she's from Idaho, but I can see why Dutch would say that. We have a lot in common.

I've been having a great time all week with the new staff. Every day is easy with so many people pitching in, and we have enough around for barefoot volleyball matches and lots of lounging and talking on the trampoline. Every night is Cranium, giant Twister, sardines, ten fingers, guitar playing, handstand competitions, oil drum fires, pictionary, or cards. Fixer taught us a game he plays in Manchester called Sh*thead. It's complicated, with special rules for the 2, 7, 8, and 10, but quite fun.

Family, I tried making date pinwheels last night for dessert. We don't have pecans here, though, so I put in muesli, our oat/nut breakfast cereal. We also don't have dark brown sugar, just this dry, light, powdery stuff. They came out all right, but they tasted like buttery shortbread with dates. I think I made about 170 cookies, all told. We had about 120 of them at dinner, since we've got 19 staff and 23 guests right now. We left the tin out while the staff all hung out in the music room last night. There were two left this morning. I made the date pinwheels in place of "sticky date pudding," which uses nearly the same ingredients yet tastes like chewy garbage. Even though the Europeans claim that "biscuits" are for tea, not post-dinner dessert, they were a hit.